diff --git a/kill-maven.sh b/kill-maven.sh
index 725a3fa..df3ec80 100755
--- a/kill-maven.sh
+++ b/kill-maven.sh
@@ -76,15 +76,19 @@ host_pids() {
 HOST_PIDS=$(host_pids)
 
 if [ -z "$HOST_PIDS" ]; then
-    # Nothing to kill on the host and no running containers. Either Maven is
-    # already down, or it is somewhere this script cannot see (another PID
-    # namespace, another user, docker unreachable). We cannot tell the
-    # difference, so refuse to claim success.
-    echo "ERROR: found no Maven processes on this host and no running containers." >&2
-    if [ "$DOCKER_OK" != 1 ]; then
-        echo "       Could not ask docker either — if this is the container deploy," >&2
-        echo "       run: docker compose -f $COMPOSE_FILE stop" >&2
+    # Nothing on the host. Whether that means "already down" depends on whether
+    # we managed to ask docker, and the two must not read the same.
+    if [ "$DOCKER_OK" = 1 ]; then
+        # Docker answered and named no running containers, and there is nothing
+        # on the host either. That is a real answer: Maven is already stopped.
+        echo "Nothing to stop: no Maven processes and no running containers."
+        exit 0
     fi
+    # We could not ask docker, so Maven may be alive in a container we cannot
+    # see. Saying "stopped" here is the exact false success this script had.
+    echo "ERROR: no Maven processes on this host, and docker could not be asked." >&2
+    echo "       If this is the container deploy it may still be running:" >&2
+    echo "       docker compose -f $COMPOSE_FILE stop" >&2
     echo "       Nothing was stopped. Check by hand before assuming Maven is down." >&2
     exit 1
 fi